Observer News: Only 1,181 days to go and Florida doesn't matter. Yet.
Only 1,181 days to go and Florida doesn't matter. Yet.
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Mitch_Traphagen on 14/08/2013 19:51:00
By Mitch Traphagen
DES MOINES, IOWA - Here is something to make some Americans wake up screaming:
it has only been nine months since the 2012 election with its relentless assault
via the airwaves and our television screens on our senses and sanity, and the
race for 2016 is already underway. Well, it is in Iowa, at least. And
Florida’s very own Senator Marco Rubio technically kicked the race off just
two weeks after the last election by a visit to that state.
Wait! It’s only 2013, right? Well in today’s world of never-ending
campaigning, that means there are only 1,181 days until election day, never mind
that just next year every single member of the House of Representatives and 33
of the 100 seats in the Senate will go before the voters. It is 2016 that is
bringing the presidential hopefuls to the Hawkeye State.
Although no one has yet officially announced their candidacy for president, thus
far it is primarily republicans making stops in Iowa, with democrats largely
holding back, possibly so as the spotlight is not shifted away from President
Obama, who still has three years left in office. That said, Vice President Joe
Biden is expected to speak at Iowa Senator Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry next
month, a large politically oriented gathering that then-candidate Barack Obama
attended in 2007. The Vice President, however, told GQ Magazine just last month
that he could die a happy man without ever being President of the United States.
But then again, most politicians, like most everyone, could always use a little
more happiness.
Just four months after the Harkin steak fry in 2007, Obama surprised the nation
with a win in the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses, propelling the then
little-known candidate past Hillary Clinton, who was at the time the presumptive
nominee. Obama set up tent stakes early on in Iowa and that apparently paid off
with two terms in the White House. Unless they have a better plan, most
candidates for president consider Iowa to be essential.
The Tampa Bay area and the I-4 Corridor are considered some of the most valuable
and volatile real estate on the political landscape. Further, with 29 electoral
votes, tying New York and behind only California and Texas, Florida is
considered an enormous prize for anyone with presidential aspirations. With
Florida as the largest of the swing states, the Tampa Bay area is generally
credited with doing the swinging. Iowa, meanwhile, has just six electoral votes.
More people live in the greater Tampa Bay metropolitan area than in all of Iowa,
making it amazing the power such a relatively small state wields over the
nation’s choice for president. Although some states, including Florida, have
attempted to jump ahead and hold primaries or caucuses before Iowa, such
attempts have not only been unsuccessful, they have sometimes resulted in
retribution from the respective parties. Although a long campaign in Iowa,
particularly during the cold winter months, can’t exactly be considered a
vacation, the state does hold a certain appeal for aspiring candidates, and more
importantly for those in charge of campaign finances.
No campaign manager in his or her right mind would want a heavily populated
state such as Florida as a proving ground. The media costs alone in building and
proving a candidacy in a state like this would be formidable, something reserved
only for the wealthiest candidates and even then, the relatively few of those
willing to part with their wealth. Iowa, on the other hand, has a handful of
smaller media markets, led by the capital city of Des Moines, along with a
population that has a long history of getting involved with the candidates, an
affect that thus saves the all-important early campaign dollars as the people
tend to come to the candidate for any number of fish fries and pancake
breakfasts held at Legion halls, VFW posts and firehouses throughout the state.
And now, with the 2012 election still in the rear-view mirror, the candidates
are already beginning to line up in Iowa for 2016, a pack that includes a number
of newly elected politicians such as freshman Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who
visited Iowa last weekend. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who eventually (but
possibly too late) won Iowa in 2012, after a drawn out challenge that saw him
first losing to Mitt Romney, also visited the state this past weekend, making a
stop at the Iowa State Fair. Other politicians who can’t seem to get enough of
Iowa lately include former Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan of Wisconsin,
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. Even Donald
Trump has just happened to be in the neighborhood.
As President, Obama has returned to Iowa several times, although these days his
sights seem to be set more on Florida, with a visit to Orlando last week
speaking before 3,000 military veterans, who, coincidentally, also happen to be
voters. The President may not be running for another office and he came with his
own message to a group that is well represented in the Sunshine State, but his
party is looking to 2014 and 2016 and Florida is far too important to ignore.
The upside for a jaded public worn out by the newly never-ending campaign cycle
is that despite our own weariness, it is the candidates themselves that will
likely suffer the most, consuming more fried foods on a stick, shaking more
hands, wearing perma-smiles with eyelids droopy from exhaustion, and kissing
more babies than anyone should be forced to in any lifetime. So while the
ever-lengthening campaign process may be painful for us, just be glad that you
aren’t the candidate. There are some things that nature never intended to be
fried on a stick and the memories, some may call them nightmares, will last long
into even the next election cycle which, the way things are going, will probably
begin in a month or two. After all, Election Day on November 3, 2020 is only
2,637 days away.